


A Scattering of Spoons

by Alpherae



Series: A Kettle Full of Corks [5]
Category: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Drabble Collection, Families of Choice, Gen, More specific tags in the notes, Mostly Chronological, Past Tense, Present Tense, Prompt Fic, Slice of Life, Wordcount: 100x100, people being people, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-15 10:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 100
Words: 10,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8052769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alpherae/pseuds/Alpherae
Summary: Reflections of a life or three over the course of a millennium (give or take a few decades).
Summary edited (again, sorry) 20/11/2016





	1. A Moment in Time

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a writing exercise, and might not make much sense if you don't know the main quests, sorry.
> 
> Given the variety, any trigger warnings will be in the notes of the appropriate drabble.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where it begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Sontaire  
> Location: Bliss, New Sheoth, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

If you would see what others have not, _Sontaire reads aloud from the journal_ , follow the road from Crucible into the wilds of Dementia, until the third bridge lies behind. From there, travel south to reach a shallow marsh, where silver gleams amidst the reeds.

Each gleam is a single spoon, planted firmly in sodden ground. Mirror-bright, they reflect not their surroundings, but a moment in the life of the last person to pass by. Yet be wary, traveller, for by peering into a stranger’s life, stray moments of your own shall become open to the curious sight of another.


	2. (Star)light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The Serpent wanders about in the sky and has no Season, though its motions are predictable to a degree. No characteristics are common to all who are born under the sign of the Serpent. Those born under this sign are the most blessed and the most cursed."  
> \-- _The Firmament_ , by Ffoulke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Elumabi Assarnuridan and daughter  
> Location: Ashamanu Camp, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

She stared up at the night sky, warm in her mother’s arms. There was a taint on the air that meant the storm-chimes would be ringing before sunrise, but for now the stars were clear and cold above her.

“Look up,” Mama whispered. “There is the Tower, for me, and the Steed for your nana. And what about you?”

She twisted around, and finally pointed to a quartet of stars just rising over the Mountain.

“Very good, my little mabrigash, you found the Ghost Snake,” Mama laughed quietly. “And as long as you remember him, you need fear nothing else.”


	3. Boundaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The irresistible force meets the immovable object. They compromise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunibi Ashamanu  
> Location: Cheydinhal, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

The noise of the city drifted over the orphanage wall, tainting the almost perfect stillness of the little courtyard. Ilunibi paced silently beside the wall, circling the yard with demure eyes downcast and her hands folded neatly at her waist, just as Mother Elenore insisted.

Over a year in residence and too many punishments to count had forced them both to an understanding. Not all the beatings in the world could keep her from moving, nor would the Orphan-Mother allow one of her charges to be anything less than ladylike.

So, Ilunibi kept her hands still and walked the bounds.


	4. Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why Grommok gro-Barak uses a matronym.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak  
> Location: somewhere in the Jerall Mountains, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: kidnapping

Moggy sneezed and whimpered as the sack landed with a thud. Mummy would tell her to be brave, but it was too dark. She could smell something bitter that made her feel sleepy again and tasted like five-day-old rotten eggs on her teeth (or at least what she thought five-day-old rotten eggs probably tasted like), and she could feel canvas all around her. She could hear clanging and thumping and someone who shouted like Grom only madder but she couldn't _see_ until there was no more noise and someone pulled the canvas away and she was blinking in the torchlight.


	5. Enthusiasm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes Mog needs a little encouragement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak, Bumph gra-Gash, and Grommok gro-Barak  
> Location: Bruma, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

“Enough.”

Mog took a wobbly step back from the dummy, let the club fall, and collapsed dramatically to the polished floor. Footsteps approached, and her aunt appeared above her.

“Nicely done, lassie. Now, up y’get.”

“Can't,” Mog pouted. “Dead.”

Aunt Bumph gave her a wry look, but another interrupted.

“Y’know dead kids don't get presents, right?” Mog looked up and shrieked, scrambling to her feet and charging the visitor.

“Grom!” She wrapped her arms about his waist and grinned up at him. Her brother laughed and ruffled her hair.

“Heya, short-stuff. You want to show off a bit for me?”


	6. Shattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fever dreams are unpleasant things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Jiub and a fellow prisoner  
> Location: Seyda Neen, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: sickness, amnesia

The drumbeat resounded through her, dragging her heartbeat with it to impossible heights until her body shook apart like falling rocks, struck-glass mind shattered ash roughened raw blind _blank_

“-wake up!”

A stranger’s hands dragged her up and out of unsettling dreams, until she knelt on worn timbers, shaking and retching. The man held her upright and murmured comforting nonsense, glancing often at the door.

There were footsteps approaching as she calmed, and he pulled her quickly to her feet.

“There you go, lass,” he whispered. “What's your name?” But try as she might, she had no answer for him.


	7. Knowing How

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't think, just move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu  
> Location: Balmora, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

The bonemold shield was oddly shaped, with knobs that prevented it from resting flat and stable on the floor. Ilunabi ran her hands along the rim, thinking about the dancers she had seen in the cornerclub. They tended to lay the shield belly-up, using it as an unstable pedestal, but that felt... wrong.

She closed her eyes, focusing on the echo of music. The shield clattered to the floor, belly-down, and she slammed a foot down on one side. It snapped upright, and she leapt onto the smooth edge, shifting her weight and laughing as the shield spun under her.


	8. Judgement (possibly unjustified)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No really, it's a stupid idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu and Caius Cosades  
> Location: Balmora, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

The small room contained little more than the necessities and a multitude of empty bottles. A skooma pipe was just visible under the bed, and Ilunabi kept her eyes fixed on it as Cosades passed on his latest instructions.

“Ilunabi?” The spymaster paused. “Are you listening to me?”

She pursed her lips. “I am to tell the wise-woman of the most xenophobic Ashland tribe that I am their prophesied hero,” she repeated obediently.

Cosades nodded. “Any questions?”

“Merely the one,” she said, flicking her eyes up. “Does skooma alone cause such delusions, or does it react badly with the wine?”


	9. Seeing Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are mountains supposed to be this creepy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu  
> Location: Ghostgate, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

Ilunabi dragged the lever down, and walked into the Ghostgate tunnel as the portcullis slowly rose in front of her. Her footsteps sounded wrong, the echoes dampened by fired-earth walls, and she jumped as the iron grill slammed to the ground behind her.

She paused at the other end of the tunnel, peering through ash-laden air at the barren ground ahead of her.

Finally, she tugged a scarf up over her nose and eased out of cover, spear held ready. Clambering up the steep slope, she glanced up at the cloudy sky, its ruddy light soaking the world in crimson.


	10. Heart Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Like calls to like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu  
> Location: Balmora, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

It would not be hard to enter Balmora. If she waited until the early morning, and moved carefully, the guards were unlikely to stop her before she reached Cosades’s house. At least the corprus was not visible yet.

She had not dared to sleep on the way back. The Song danced in the corners of her mind, lilting, enticing, entrancing. If she slept, she would dream and be lost.

Neither the Temple nor the Imperial Cult knew of a cure, but Cosades would find one, if it was possible. Caius would do his best for her, if she let him.


	11. Forever and a Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Note to self: next time a mad ~~scientist~~ alchemist gives you something to drink, remember to ask about side-effects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu and Divayth Fyr  
> Location: Tel Fyr, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

“ _What_ did you say?” Ilunabi stared blankly at the Telvanni.

Divayth Fyr seemed almost sympathetic. “The potion was intended to alleviate the worst of the symptoms, which it did. The mental and physical disturbances have been corrected, but technically you are still infected.”

“The worst of the symptoms,” Ilunabi repeated, and swallowed. “That suggests there are others that were _not_ cured.”

“Of course,” he replied, poking at an artefact on his desk. “Corprus grants an impressive resistance to other diseases, and interrupts the ageing process completely.”

“I'm not going to die. Ever.”

“Well, you can still be killed, but… no.”


	12. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ilunabi's having a _very_ bad week...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu and Caius Cosades  
> Location: Balmora, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

She took the folder warily, uncertain what to expect. Caius let his hand fall and sighed.

“I was holding off until I had more information,” he said. “But with the recall… well.” He shrugged. “I'm sorry, Ilunabi. It looks like the ship wasn't the first time.”

It didn't hold much, only the legionnaires’ report and a letter from Ebonheart. As she read the few pages over and over, Caius sat down beside her on the bed. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, tucking her under his chin like a child as she began to shake.


	13. Vengeance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... and misery loves company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu  
> Location: Vivec, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

Mehra Milo vanished in a flare of light, and Ilunabi looked around the small, chilly cell. The Ordinators were not stupid – there was a rising clamour on the other side of the door as the alarm was raised – but she had enough time to confuse the issue.

She pulled out one of the more… experimental scrolls that she had come up with, and grinned as someone tried to break the door open. She wasn't fool enough to actually _harm_ them, but there was nothing to stop her sowing a little chaos in Mehra’s wake.

It would serve the zealots right.


	14. Never Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At least he kept his hands to himself?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Nibani Maesa and Ilunabi Ashamanu  
> Location: Urshilaku Camp, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

Nibani Maesa looked up as the chimes jangled, and surprise briefly crossed her face.

“Did it not go well?” she enquired. Ilunabi threw herself onto one of the sleeping mats and glared up at the roof of the yurt.

“Ilunabi?” The wise woman moved to the hearth and began to make tea. For a time, there was silence apart from bubbling water and clinking cups, until finally Ilunabi sighed.

“Crassius blight-take-him Curio,” she growled.

Nibani hummed in acknowledgement and handed her a full cup. “He was unhelpful?”

Ilunabi snorted. “Compared to the rest of Hlaalu, he was a perfect _sweetie_.”


	15. Change in the Weather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking a breath in the aftermath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu  
> Location: Dagoth Ur, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

Without the volcano belching smoke and poison, the world seemed still, waiting. Ilunabi dragged herself up the side of the crater to sit on the rim, looking out over the Mountain. It seemed a good place to stop, before returning to Ghostgate and other people’s demands.

Tainted ash drifted down from the sky, softening the rocky ground. A breath of wind brushed against her cheek and skittered along the crags, sweeping the ash into crevices and shredding blighted mists into bloody threads.

She didn’t smile until the rain came, washing away the red and leaving behind only calm, clean grey.


	16. Patience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because she was bored, that's why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu, the Fork of Horripilation, and a giant bull netch  
> Location: an island in the Sheogorad archipelago, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

The bull netch wailed and began to list, long thick tendrils beating the air frantically. Ilunabi hastily stepped out of the way and gave the Fork a second, less dubious look. The beast’s landing belied its great size, sinking to the ground with no more than a wheezy groan and a squelch.

She scrambled onto a convenient rock and waited for the beast to deflate into a quivering mess of skin and gloop. Bringing it down with only the Fork as a weapon had been a tedious job, but she could afford the time to make use of the remains.


	17. Unbreakable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It isn't regret, so much as doubts for the path leading to this point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu  
> Location: Lost Kogoruhn, Vvardenfell, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

With the Mountain quiet and the winds clear, Lost Kogoruhn was beginning to emerge from the surrounding ash. The stronghold loomed overhead, and Ilunabi hesitated before beginning to climb the worn steps.

Inside, the halls were marked by the fall of their master: windblown ash lay thick on the floor and the chalked symbols had faded. The hopeful arrangements of table and chairs were scattered across the floor.

She left the Temple of Fey for last, but finally she opened the door and approached the dais Dagoth Uvil had once guarded. The statue was dull and silent, and still intact.


	18. Exhaustion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Assassins should not arrive at three hours before dawn; it's uncivilised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu and Divayth Fyr  
> Location: Tel Fyr, Azura's Coast, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

Ilunabi sat on the edge of her bed and glared at the crumpled form at her feet.

“Not another one? I really do think you ought to consider Akivir.”

She twisted to stare at Divayth Fyr, blinking at him in the candle’s dim light.

“That's a sleeping robe,” she said blearily.

The older mer sighed. “Because I was asleep, Ilunabi, just as you should be.”

“Akivir?”

“They are clearly not about to give up,” Fyr replied. “We can argue about this in the morning, child, now get some rest.”

Ilunabi let herself fall back into bed, still clutching her dagger.


	19. Troubling Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's never a bad idea to think twice before doing something stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu  
> Location: Mournhold, Morrowind  
> Tags: n/a

Mournhold was not accustomed to enemies making it past the sturdy walls; the damage would take weeks to repair. Ilunabi watched the work from a balcony and let the sunlight warm her, rolling the Moon-And-Star between her fingers.

Assisting the Temple had seemed wise at the time, but assisting the Goddess… well. It explained the rumours, at least. Wanting ash storms to prove her power, when the city was already damaged and afraid?

She thrust the ring back on her finger, and pushed away from the railing. “Time to go, I think,” she sighed.

Fyr was going to be insufferable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU Alert: Ilunabi only got half-way through the Tribunal quest before she figured out what was going on and took off. Almalexia had to get some other poor sod to do her dirty work.


	20. Opportunities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mog's back! And she's all grown up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Vigdis and Mogak gra-Barak  
> Location: Anvil, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: Mog's interesting social life

Vigdis eyed Mog thoughtfully, and took another drink.

“So, Mog, you've taken up with a good sixth of the people between Westgate and Riverside at one time or another, right?”

“Sounds about right,” Mog said.

“And sometimes these affairs overlapped, yeah?”

“Uh huh.”

“So, why did you turn down Benirus, then? I mean, he's cute enough that I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating sweetrolls.”

She shrugged. “He already has one girl in Skingrad, and another in Bravil.”

“I refer to my previous comment,” Vigdis said dryly.

“They don't know about each other.”

“You're a complicated woman, Mog.”


	21. Stirring of the Wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They actually get a lot of street-preachers in Anvil. It's probably the weather.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak  
> Location: Anvil, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

Mog turned the corner into Chapelgate, humming cheerfully, and slowed her steps. The old man ranting under the portico was not unusual, but the words she caught on the wind seemed rather more doom-laden than most Dibellan prophets.

She shrugged to herself and crossed the road. Leaning against a nearby column, it was easier to follow his speech, although Mog suspected she was missing a lot of the theological allusions. As he began to wind down, a shriek split the air and she spun towards the Chapel.

The old man sighed beside her. “This is only the beginning,” he said.


	22. Mist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, somewhere assassins won't follow...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu  
> Location: somewhere in Akavir  
> Tags: snakes

Ilunabi had found the cave tucked behind a waterfall, a warm, damp web of passages and chambers, with no sign of any inhabitants that she could find. The cascade murmured constantly, muffling other sounds just as the drifting spray blurred sight, shrouding the world in mist.

The snake took her by surprise, biting deep before she could throw it off. The venom-driven fever rose quickly, and threw her into panic. It was panic that made her grab her journal rather than the antidote. Panic that caused her thoughts to dissolve into confusion, long before the fever ripped them all away.


	23. Forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting again, not quite from scratch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi?  
> Location: somewhere in Akavir  
> Tags: n/a

She awoke wedged in a crevice, hidden behind a shroud of mist and moss. Still weak from the fever, it took some time before she was able to wriggle out into the empty cave.

She fell into the remains of somebody’s ransacked camp: torn clothes and rotting food scattered across the floor. A crystalline dagger abandoned amongst the mess bit her when she tried to pick it up.

The pages of a book – a journal – tucked into her shirt were sticky and damp, the ink blurred by moisture. An unfamiliar name was etched into the red leather cover.

_Ilunabi Ashamanu_.


	24. Advantage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mog's feeling a little bit overwhelmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak and Sir Geimund  
> Location: Priory of the Nine, the West Weald, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

She was still struggling with the cuirass fastenings as Sir Geimund came in.

“You know the squires would have been honoured to assist you,” he pointed out. The cuirass loosened with a tug, and he helped her settle it evenly over her shoulders.

“I know, it's just,” Mog hesitated as Geimund knelt at her feet with the greaves. “The Blessing and all, it feels like a bit much just for me.”

He looked up at her and smiled. “Sir Mogak, you're facing an undead Ayleid sorcerer-king allied with Meridia. Personally, I think you need all the help you can get.”


	25. Fork in the Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or, why Huurwen is not allowed sugar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak and Huurwen  
> Location: Anvil, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

“Hey Mog!” Huurwen grinned, landing on the other side of the table. “What’cha doing?”

Mog cursed as the table jolted and nectar oozed over her fingers.

“I _was_ making a cure-all, but that was the last of my St Jahns,” Mog sighed as she grabbed a rag, glaring at the bosmer. “This had better be good.”

Huurwen’s grin widened. “D’ya hear there’s a floating island in Niben Bay! I thought we could go check it out, just us girls! It'll be fun!”

Mog wiped her hands slowly and pitched the dirty rag into the fireplace.

“Huurwen?”

“Yeah, Mog?”

“Go. Away.”


	26. Simplicity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entering the Isles is... not that hard at all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and the Gatekeeper  
> Location: Passwall, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Even from the top of the wall surrounding the courtyard, the Gatekeeper seemed enormous. Ilunabi kept a wary eye on the giant golem as she slipped down to ground level and edged towards the Gates.

Halfway there, and she froze as the Gatekeeper turned to look directly at her, grumbling. He sniffed loudly, visibly trying to think, and then nodded and waved a thick arm in the direction of the Gates. Ilunabi stared as he stumped off towards the courtyard entrance again. It seemed far too easy, but at least she had a head start while his back was turned.


	27. Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First time through the Gate is always a shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak  
> Location: Ganonah, Oblivion  
> Tags: death (obviously), oblivion-style decorating

Mog had seen some ugly things with the Fighters Guild. Isolated bandit gangs occasionally turned in on themselves, and necromancers could take the practice of their ‘Art’ to ends that were both sickeningly logical and completely irrational.

Given that, she hadn't expected it to be too bad beyond the Gate. She had seen ravaged Kvatch, after all. The traps were nasty, the arrangements of maltreated bodies were worse (never mind the _plant life_ ), but it was coming across the first of the Punished – daedra twisted into distorted, undying flesh – that brought her to tears. What was death, next to that?


	28. Heartfelt Apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Martin gets distracted. Mog thinks this is a good thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak, Martin Septim and Jena  
> Location: Cloud Ruler Temple, Jerall Mountains, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: Martin's limited social life

“I'm back, and I've got- oh. I _am_ sorry.”

Martin blushed as the Blade hurried away. The slamming door echoed through the Great Hall, and Mog smirked.

“Jena, huh?” she said. “I’m impressed.”

“My apologies,” Martin sighed, resting his head in his hands. “I allowed myself to become distracted. It won't happen again.”

Mog snorted, and dropped the old breastplate on top of his books.

“All work and no play makes Martin’s eyes cross,” she sang.

“You don't disapprove?”

“Of course not, you nitwit, I'm sworn to Dibella. Now give that cursèd book a break and go after the girl.”


	29. Out of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When all you have is ~~a hammer~~ an amulet...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak, Martin Septim, Chancellor Ocato, Grandmaster Jauffre, and Mehrunes Dagon  
> Location: the Imperial City, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

She charged through the broken gates to the Temple District and rocked to a halt, stumbling forward again as Martin bounced off her back.

“Mog, what are you… oh, no.”

Behind them, the Grandmaster and the Chancellor were cursing in harmony at the sight of Mehrunes Dagon’s horned head rising above the rooftops. Mog simply stared until Martin slammed a fist on her pauldron, jolting her out of her daze.

“Mog! Can you get me to the Temple?”

She blinked at him, and turned to inspect the battleground. It was chaotic, but not impassable.

“Yeah, but-“

“I have an idea.”


	30. Failure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, your best isn't good enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak, Chancellor Ocato  
> Location: the Imperial City, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

She suspected she ought to be happy; everyone else was. The gathered crowds were louder than those blasted gates had been, hollering and cheering. A trio of bosmeri travellers were dancing on the balcony they'd used as a sniping platform, and legionnaires were roaring an adapted marching cadence as they hauled daedric corpses into a pile.

Ocato caught her arm as she slumped, and guided her down to sit in the doorway.

“What now?” Mog asked. The altmer sighed and crouched beside her, watching the festivities.

“Politics,” he said. “I can handle that. But you… will you tell the Blades?”


	31. Cold Embrace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Using extreme measures to break bad dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak  
> Location: somewhere on the Gold Coast, north of Anvil, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

The wet grass was slick underfoot, and Mog landed in the shallow water with a splash. She yanked off the damp boots and threw them onto the rocks nearby, flinging shirt and trousers after them. Stripped to bare skin, she waded deeper until the waves were buffeting her shoulders and the sand dropped away sharply beneath her toes.

She took a deep breath and held it, pinching her nose as she sank down, unbound hair writhing about her face like kelp. The chilly water cradled her gently, burning eyes and half-healed wounds with salt, washing away the memory of fire.


	32. Seeking Solace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two's company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak and Baurus  
> Location: the Imperial City, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

Mog blinked when she entered the tavern. She was not surprised to find Baurus dressed once again as a merchant, but seeing him slumped against the bar was unexpected.

“Jauffre’s been looking for you,” she said quietly. Baurus shrugged and picked up his glass.

“Of course he is, the old crab,” he muttered and took a drink. “You come to drag me back?”

Mog looked at him for a moment, and shook her head. She took the stool beside him, and asked the barman for brandy.

“You mind if I join you?” she asked. “I’m not fond of drinking alone.”


	33. Burning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mog's a little drunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak  
> Location: the Imperial City, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

By the end of the Crisis, Mog had shut thirty-four gates, hard as it was for anyone to believe. She certainly didn't, so she kept it to a more reasonable twelve when the boasting started.

She couldn't remember thirty-four separate gates. The first one, yes, because it was the first, and the last because a whopping great metal centipede tends to stick in the mind even when you'd rather it didn't, but everything in between was one long blur of choking red-black smeared across her mind, ground into her skin.

And yet, there were thirty-three sigil stones in her pack.


	34. (Xedilian comes) Online

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the chimes ring, everything changes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak  
> Location: Dementia, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Everything seemed to jolt sideways, even as nothing happened at all. Mog looked up from the campfire warily, half-expecting _can't stay here_ a troop of grummites to come charging out of the mushrooms. She wrapped up the uncooked damper, _need to move_ tucking it into her pack, and kicked damp soil over the fire, almost forgetting to _hurry_ stamp out the embers.

Sticking to the road seemed safest _fastest_ when there was something _dangerous behind_ odd going on. She began to walk _hurry_ eastward, never noticing _don't stop_ when she began to _run_ because she had to _get there **now**_.


	35. Rebirth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred."  
> \-- Elie Wiesel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mogak gra-Barak and Relmyna Verenim  
> Location: Xaselm, Dementia, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: Verenim being her sadistic self

She awoke screaming, meaningless noise torn from a raw throat. Blind and deaf, she could only feel, and she felt _everything_ : heart pumping, lungs burning, gut churning, hot blood pouring through her veins.

It seemed an age before she could distinguish the chill of damp stone against bruised skin from the general miasma of pain, before her eyes cleared and she began to recognise the sound of writing nearby. A dunmeri woman stood there, watching with detached interest. As she tried to move there was a clicking sound, and everything washed away into cold water and darkness.

She awoke screaming.


	36. Running Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So you have freedom; now what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Mog  
> Location: Xaselm's back door, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Ilunabi worked her way down the hillside, and froze. Weird doorways and arches were common enough in Mania, as were Heretics with more aggression than self-preservation. Huddled figures tucked into the corner of said doorway, flinching at every movement, were rather less so.

She moved closer through the mushroom trees, eyeing the stranger. It looked like an orc-woman, but something like void essence was gleaming in places beneath the rune-marked skin and it wore a cracked iron collar.

“What are you?” Ilunabi murmured.

The other woman attempted a shaky smile, with little success. “You tell me, and we'll both know.”


	37. Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shared laughter is a good way of making friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Ilunabi  
> Location: Xaselm's back door, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Mog watched the dunmer sidle closer, one hand tucked behind her hip and probably clutching a knife. It was odd to see someone so clearly afraid of her, after so long under Verenim’s detached gaze, and not nearly as pleasant as she would have expected.

She held very still as the woman examined her with wide eyes and eventually edged up the steps, coming close enough to brush cautious fingers over the iron rings around Mog’s ankle.

They flinched back in the same instant, and Mog couldn't restrain a startled giggle that became tearful laughter as the other woman relaxed.


	38. Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is what doesn't go away when you close your eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Mog  
> Location: Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

In the darkness, the dim glow under Mog’s skin was quite clear. Red light marked her throat and forehead, and traced lines that were merely faded scars in broad daylight.

Ilunabi eyed the woman as she kept watch, turning over possibilities in her mind. There were advantages to being one of the Prince’s troubleshooters, one being knowledge of the many paths into the Isles and the traps lying in wait for unwary adventurers.

It seemed unlikely that Mog was as dead as she thought herself, given her soft snoring, but that left the markings to explain, so what _was_ she?


	39. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The question was "where's Grom and why isn't he back yet?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog, Haskill, and Lord Sheogorath  
> Location: the Fountainhead, New Sheoth, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Mog trailed behind Haskill as they waded through the waters of the Fountainhead, eyeing the tamed gnarls warily.

“M’lord Haskill? Where are we going?”

“You are summoned, girl. Hurry up!”

“Not what I asked,” she muttered, and splashed after him towards a high platform. A tall figure in motley leaded over the balustrade as they approached.

“You're late, Haskill! Or maybe early, one of the two, I'm sure. Were you delayed by trees? Or cheese? Or maybe cheese made of trees, we have to eat that up, it's not going to keep!”

Mog looked up, eyes wide in disbelief. “Grom?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU Alert: due to Huurwen's little misadventure, Mog didn't enter the Fringe until _after_ her brother disappeared, with certain knock-on effects.


	40. A Place to Belong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Camping is all well and good, but it's nice to have a roof over your head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Pyke  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

“The pair of you can stay, if you like.”

Mog turned to look at Pyke in surprise. He was inspecting the mushroom next to one of the huts, but she caught a sidelong glance.

“We’ve got the room to expand,” he added. “And I'll be honest, the Heretics have been sniffing around lately. I could use another warrior or two to help out. I love Zoe dearly but she can’t lift a sword without cutting herself, and the other two…”

“Are not fighting-stock either,” Mog agreed, and smiled. “I will ask Ilunabi, but for myself, I hope she says yes.”


	41. At Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because bad things happen when the Aureal attempt diplomacy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Ilunabi  
> Location: Dreamwalk Camp, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Mog glanced warily over her shoulder at the glowering Heretics as she trailed in Ilunabi’s wake.

“D’you really think it will work?” she asked quietly. “They look a bit peeved with us, and I don't want to tell Pyke it's sorted when it's not.”

The other woman shrugged. “Politics,” she said. “They are _not_ supposed to be attacking anyone other than those fool Zealots. Or the guards, I suppose.”

“Didn't slow them down much before,” Mog muttered, and Ilunabi grinned.

“But now they know we will not let it happen again. Who needs politics when you have a sharp stick?”


	42. Acceptance (or lack thereof)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ilunabi is very patient, right up until she isn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Ilunabi  
> Location: Dementia, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: eating disorder

Mog was lying in the sun on the edge of an outcrop when Ilunabi tracked her down. She heard footsteps long before a shadow fell across her closed eyes, and irritated tapping began right beside her head.

“You did not have breakfast.”

Mog shrugged. “Didn't feel like it.”

“You did not eat yesterday, either.”

She pushed herself up and glared. “I'm dead, Nabi. Dead things don't eat.”

“Shows what you know,” Ilunabi muttered, and smiled sweetly. “Unless you truly desire to be nothing more than a mindless zombie, you will eat.”

“Na-“

“ _Eat or I shove it down your throat_.”


	43. Umbrella

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because sometimes rain is just too dull.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Ilunabi  
> Location: Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Lightning flared briefly, and thunder broke like clashing metal directly overhead. Mog yelped and flinched back just as something long and pink speared down in front of her. Ilunabi spun out of the way as another clattered to the ground, and grabbed Mog’s arm.

“This way!” she shouted, and tugged Mog off the road. They darted from mushroom to mushroom, and finally to the relative safety of a stone archway, joining a young grummite that glared at them before pointedly looking away.

“Um, Ilunabi?” 

“Yes, Mog?”

“It’s raining lacy pink parasols,” Mog said thoughtfully.

“Yes, Mog,” Ilunabi sighed. “I noticed.”


	44. Slow Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mog tried keeping her hair short once. It just made things worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Ilunabi  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

It was the language that caught her attention, before Mog stalked inside and began searching the bag with her more frivolous possessions, cursing all inanimate objects.

“Dare I ask?” Ilunabi wondered aloud, leaning back from her work. Mog jerked her head up and stared plaintively back at her, her hair a mess of blonde tangles.

“My ties’ve snapped, the pins are all bent, and now my hair’s eaten the brush,” she wailed. “I can't get it out, and there's no more combs!”

Ilunabi sighed, pushing the half-enchanted locket away.

“Come here,” she said. “I will see what I can do.”


	45. Illogical

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ilunabi does this for fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Ilunabi  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

“A finger here, please.”

Mog shifted her hands obediently, and watched as Nabi slipped a pyrite bead onto the glimmering wire and threaded it back into the lattice.

“I never realised enchanting was so complicated,” she muttered. “How in oblivion are you keeping track?”

“Practice,” Nabi told her, sorting through the dish of beads again.

“Yeah, but positions and interactions and… hang on! That bead went on the silver wire!” Mob peered at the lattice in confusion.

“Yes?”

“It's on the copper now. How'd it get there?”

Nabi raised her eyebrows. “It is supposed to be there.”

“Yeah, but _how_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the 'abacus' in _Mimsy Were The Borogoves_ by Lewis Padgett.


	46. Complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mog is a drama queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Ilunabi  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

“So, necromancy is completely and utterly forbidden in Morrowind, right?”

“Yes.”

“Except for the ancestral rites-”

“Which are not necromancy.”

“Which are not necromancy even if they look like it, yeah, I got that. And those laws also only cover sapient beings?”

“Correct.”

“Which may or may not include orsimer depending on where you are, _when_ you are, and who you asked?”

“Your point?”

Mog threw herself on the bed and groaned in disbelief. “I'm doomed.”

Across the room, Ilunabi looked up from her book and sighed. “Really, Mog, if I can’t tell, why should anyone else be able to?”


	47. Tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grief lingers in the corners of the mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi  
> Location: Cheydinhal, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

Ilunabi first heard about the eruption of Dagoth Ur and the ensuing Red Year while she was nursing a mug of spiced wine in a pub in Cheydinhal, waiting for Mog to join her. She listened quietly as the merchants discussed the effects of the destruction on their trade routes and supply chains, and wondered why the news caused her heart to ache like poison.

She could not remember visiting Morrowind, let alone Vvardenfell itself; she had no family or close friends to mourn, no ancestors to honour. And yet, for whatever reason, she could not keep herself from weeping.


	48. Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She probably should have started researching this a little earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi  
> Location: the Imperial City, Cyrodiil  
> Tags: n/a

Ilunabi eased the heavy book closed and settled back in her chair, gazing at nothing in particular. 

“Journeyed far ‘neath moon and star,” she muttered, worrying at the ring on her index finger – the one she had worn since before she could remember, the one she never took off. The points of the star were sharp against her fingertip, the back of the moon smooth and warm.

“One-Clan-Under-Moon-and-Star.”

She sighed and pushed herself up again, taking another book from the neat pile on the table. Old prophecies were one thing, but maybe she could find something a little more reliable.


	49. Dreamer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Youngest hatched on a dark and stormy night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Keeps-Digging and her Youngest  
> Location: eastern Black Marsh  
> Tags: n/a

Her mother is exasperated when she wakes up _again_ with aching muscles, but Youngest thinks there is worry underneath. The Dreamer-Born are expected to wander Vaermina’s realm in sleep, but the Weaver is said to be gentle with her devotees as long as they are obedient.

The questions are irritating: is there a message to give, some action to take, a duty to fulfil? Youngest resorts to muttering _I don't remember_ , but she's lying and her mother can probably tell. She is a Child of the Root, how is she supposed to explain that she spends her dreams in flight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Argonian difficulty with tenses is in fact canon.


	50. Lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She can only improve from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Dreams-Of-Wings and Climbs-Too-High  
> Location: eastern Black Marsh  
> Tags: n/a

She watches carefully as Climbs-Too-High moves her hands out to gather magicka, and in again to shape the spell, memorising each twist and turn. One last gesture to finish, and the air between them hardens into a translucent wall, strong enough to withstand any blow.

Climbs-To-High brushes it aside with a flick of white-lit fingers and nods, and Dreams-Of-Wings takes up the attempt. Magicka flares off the tips of her claws, spills between her fingers to dissolve into nothing, but there is just – barely – enough left to complete the spell. Her own shield is mist-thin and fragile, but undeniably there.


	51. Summer Haze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You know those days when you just can't be bothered to do anything?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Mog  
> Location: Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Ilunabi pulled the cloth from her eyes in disbelief.

“Will someone please tell me that was not a scalon I heard just now?”

Mog let her fan slow as she thought.

“Couldn't have been,” she said firmly.

“Why not?”

“Firstly, attacking us when we're trying to relax would be a stupid idea, and we’ve lived here long enough that all the stupid ones are dead,” Mog replied, and she looked pointedly at a distortion in the air nearby.

“Secondly, I shall be peeved if I have to fight, ‘cause it's too bedammit _hot_.”

The distortion shifted uneasily and hurried away.


	52. Dangerous Territory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daedric princes don't like to share their toys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi  
> Location: Sheogorath's Palace, New Sheoth, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

The dancer made one last turn and curtsied low as the Madgod clapped wildly.

“Brava, pet, brava! Peryite will be envious!” He cried. “Of you, of Me, of those runty grummites that run around My Boot! Maybe I won't share you after all.”

“My Lord?” she asked.

“Peryite’s being grabby,” He went on. “Your fear’s Mine, of course, but he kept making you forget everything, and now he’s claiming that makes you his!”

Ilunabi froze as Sheogorath leaned forward on His throne, lacing His fingers over the head of His staff, and smiled quietly, dangerously.

“Oh, We’ll see about that.”


	53. Separation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's not mad enough to bother the Madgod about this, yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Haskill  
> Location: Sheogorath's Palace, New Sheoth, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Mog yelped as she caught sight of someone who should know more. 

“M’lord Haskill?” she called out, hurrying up the steps. “M’lord!”

The Chamberlain turned in the doorway and gave her a sour look.

“Come, then,” he snapped and marched on, Mog hovering behind him.

“M’lord Haskill, have you seen Nabi recently?” she asked. “Himself summoned her to dance for Him and she's usually back by now but no one’s seen her and I'm worried…”

“My Lord has a bet with Peryite,” Haskill said over his shoulder, and he left Mog to silently panic in the middle of the hallway.


	54. Exploration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No knowledge is wasted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Dreams-Of-Wings  
> Location: Silent Moons Camp, Whiterun Hold, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

The shield is both beautiful and filthy. Dreams-Of-Wings fills the quenching tub with warm, clean water, and find a piece of soft leather. She works slowly, bent over the tub, wiping the rag carefully over delicate-looking plates. The complex framework attaching them to the base turns out to be far stronger than it appears, scarcely moving as she works centuries-old grime out of the crevices.

The job done, she places the shield on the edge of the forge to dry, and collects her sketchbook.

“Now then,” she says, drifting gentle fingers over the central orb. “Let us discover your secrets.”


	55. Dead Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tempting fate is not a good idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Dreams-Of-Wings  
> Location: Bleak Falls Barrow, Falkreath Hold, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

_The only advantage of a tomb_ , Dreams-Of-Wings thinks, _is that it provides shelter to wandering travellers_. Of course, that includes wandering bandits as well, and she is shivering by the time she gets past the three soft-skins standing guard outside.

Inside is thankfully warmer, and she is feeling almost kindly towards the bandits until she encounters the spiders. The brain-addled thief taking off when she cuts him loose sours her mood, and she growls as she follows him deeper into the barrow.

 _At least the bandits should have taken care of any animate dead_ , she thinks. Something rasps behind her.


	56. Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All knowledge has its price.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Dreams-Of-Wings and the Arch-Mage Caranya  
> Location: the College of Winterhold, Skyrim  
> Tags: blindness

Dreams-Of-Wings charges into the Arch-Mage’s suite like an rampaging sabrecat, heedless of all courtesy. Caranya pushes her books out of the way, and fails to tuck a small lens out of sight in time.

“What are you _thinking_!” Dreams-Of-Wings snarls, snatching the lens up and shaking it in the altmer’s face.

“Dreamer!”

“Do you think yourself immune? Do you think the Scrolls are forgiving?” she demands.

“It was necessary, Scholar,” Caranya snaps back. “And mind your manners.”

Dreams-Of-Wings leans over her chair, glaring into hazel eyes just beginning to show the first hints of white.

“No prophecy is worth this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU Alert: different people carried out different quests, so for example the Arch-Mage and the Harbinger of the Companions are separate individuals.


	57. Obsession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dreams-Of-Wings does have a survival instinct, it's just a little erratic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Dreams-Of-Wings  
> Location: Helgen, Skyrim  
> Tags: Dragon!

It takes her a moment to realise what she is seeing, and as the headsman drops his axe and flees, Dreams-Of-Wings settles back on her heels and stares at the impossibility roaring through the sky.

“Get up!”

Her research in Skyrim is wishful thinking, a chance to explore the potential in half-forgotten tales.

“Hurry!”

The dragon are ages dead, barely touched on in formal history. There is no reason for one to be here, now, _alive_.

“Look out!”

She follows the lad into the depths of the fort – it is that or die – but her mind is full of wings.


	58. Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many people believe the Arch-Mage is a naive bookworm. Dreams-Of-Wings and Caranya encourage the rumours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Dreams-Of-Wings and Caranya  
> Location: the Thalmor embassy, Haafingar Hold, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

Dreams-Of-Wings considers the drunken chaos for a moment, and slides her gaze to the Arch-Mage.

“You are enjoying this, yes?” she observes.

The expression of mild dismay on Caranya’s face never slips.

“Of course not, Dreamer. Elenwen went to such trouble for this party, and now look, it's just ruined.”

They both wince as a guard receives a kick in exactly the wrong place, and Caranya smiles. “Oh, dear,” she adds brightly. “I should help him.”

The Arch-Mage wanders into the fray, the very image of a scholarly naïf, and Dreams-Of-Wings prays desperately that the Thalmor cannot read argonian expressions.


	59. Unsettling Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dreams-Of-Wings considers war to be a failure of diplomacy and imagination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Dreams-Of-Wings, Caranya and Urag gro-Shub  
> Location: the College of Winterhold, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

Dream-Of-Wings growls and slams the dossier closed. Urag looks up from his conversation with the Arch-Mage and frowns.

“Careful with that, Dreamer. It's not the book’s fault.”

“It might as well be,” she snaps, and pushes herself to her feet to pace. “The Thalmor are responsible for this whole rotten war.”

Caranya holds up a hand to stop Urag replying.

“We were already aware of their interference, Dreams-Of-Wings,” she says calmly. “It is upsetting, but nothing new.”

Dreams-Of-Wings growls again, and the high windows of the Arcanaeum shiver in their panes.

“Interference? They manipulated Ulfric into starting the whole thing!”


	60. Pretense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She is well named.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Dreams-Of-Wings and Paarthurnax  
> Location: the Throat of the World, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

Standing at the peak of the Throat of the World, damp with sleet, Dreams-Of-Wings can just see the Palace of Solitude shining in the autumn sun. She closes her eyes, the better to concentrate on the wind swirling around her, tugging at her clothes, billowing under her cloak until it flaps against her back. The snow numbs her toes, wiping away the pressure of stone against her feet.

Behind her, stone creaks as Paarthurnax shifts on his wall, setting his wings against the on-coming storm.

“Hi hahnu do vingge,” he observes gently, as kind as an old dovah can be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dovahzul: Hi hahnu do vingge  
> English: You dream of wings


	61. Breaking Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Culture clash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hahnuviing and Delphine  
> Location: High Hrothgar, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

“You want me to _what_?” Hahnuviing blinks in confusion at the Blade. Delphine glances around the conference room and lowers her voice.

“Paathurnax was Alduin’s right hand, his crimes were beyond counting. He has to be destroyed.”

“Even though he aids us greatly?” Hahnuviing hisses.

“It's not as if he can be any more use to you,” Delphine says with a shrug. “And if he turned on Alduin, he’ll likely turn on you as well.”

Hahnuviing rubs her hands over her muzzle. “Mammals,” she sighs. “I begin to understand why the Blades are weakened, if you treat your allies so.”


	62. Challenged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hahnuviing is bored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hanuviing  
> Location: Winterhold, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

The sky is heavy and dark, promising snow within the hour; a pity she has no chance of being inside by then. The road between Dawnstar and Winterhold is reasonably well marked, but Hahnuviing is cold and weary and bored, and very much done with running the Arch-Mage’s errands.

The Thalmor stepping out from concealment seem to indicate that she is very much sought after as well, and possibly no longer bored.

“Argonian!” the guardsmer demands. “Are you the one known as Dreams-Of-Wings?”

“Does the soft-skin believe me if I say ‘no’?”

A large fireball answers that question quite nicely.


	63. Frost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hahnuviing is rather less bored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hahnuviing  
> Location: Winterhold, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

Hahnuviing dances away from the Thalmor’s first strike, taking stock of their skill and likely training. The trio are young, full of themselves and their claimed authority, but not entirely reckless: she is not thought to be the strongest among the Dovahkinne nor the most knowledgeable or influential. To the ignorant eye, there seems little reason to fear her, and no doubt they believe her an easy target.

She grins and send ice skittering across the road, sliding underfoot, hidden beneath the approaching sleet. Their fire burns brightly, but it is time that they learn to fear the subtle cold.


	64. Perfection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Appearances are deceiving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hahnuviing, Falanu Samandas and Alesan  
> Location: southern Solstheim  
> Tags: n/a

Nestled amongst the charcoal, the ash-yams do not appear very appetising.

“Why can't we just have jerky?” Alesan mutters. Since it is his uncle they are trying to find, Hahnuviing decides to overlook his bad manners. Falanu casts her an amused look, and darts a hand into the flames to fish out a yam for each of them, tossing her a blackened lump.

Hahnuviing lets it fall to the ground – argonian scales are merely _almost_ as fireproof as dunmeri skin – and pulls it apart with her claws.

Steam rises savoury-sweet between her fingers, the soft rosy flesh baked to perfection.


	65. Echoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> History tends to repeat itself after a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi Ashamanu, Mogak gra-Barak, Hahnuviing  
> Location: Morrowind, Cyrodiil, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

The dawn light slid over the walls and touched the small silver ring with red. Ilunabi shifted uneasily beneath ghostly eyes and reached out slowly. “This is such a bad idea,” she muttered.

( _again_ )  
Mog stuck a finger in her ear and wiggled it, staring at the cultist in disbelief. “You expect me to just hand over my armour? No if, buts, or maybes? Whose nitwitted idea is that?”

( _again_ )  
As portals go, this one sits firmly under ‘ominous’.

“Is this really a good ideaaah?!” Hahnuviing shrieks as Hjalti grabs her around the waist and jumps in with a whoop.


	66. Faith (not worship)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a difference.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hahnuviing  
> Location: Solitude, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

She paces slowly along the arc of shrines, nodding politely to each as she passes.

Julianos is honoured with a mage’s salute, and for Akatosh her bow is much deeper. She stands proud in front of the alcove where the Hammer of Talos should rest, and her soft words resound like thunder in the quiet chapel.

Turning away at the end of the line, she is met by an awestruck young priestess.

“M-may I ask...?” The child stutters and trails off into silence. 

“I come only to greet my grandsire and his kin,” Hahnuviing replies kindly, firmly, and turns away.


	67. Bitter Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's left after a Madgod's wager.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Ilunabi  
> Location: New Sheoth, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Mog pushed past the Aureal guard to crouch beside the small figure on the steps. 

“Are you alright, Nabi? What happened?”

Nabi looked at her blankly and shrugged. She had new scars: a blurred mark along her jaw, thin lines crossing the back of her left hand.

“Where did He send you?” Mog asked, eyeing the unfamiliar breastplate. Nabi favoured a different style, and usually looked after it far better. She hadn't thought chitin could chip like that.

The other woman shrugged again, still silent. Mog swallowed hard. 

“You do remember me, right?”

It seemed an age before she nodded.


	68. Making History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The winners write the history books.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hahnuviing and Urag gro-Shub  
> Location: the College of Winterhold, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

Her satisfied sigh echoes through the quiet library, and the Librarian looks up as Hahnuviing wipes her quill clean. A moment’s work has it tucked away along with the inkwell and the sand-shaker.

“I take it you're done then, Dreamer?” Urag asks. Hahnuviing nods, and begins carefully arranging the bundle of pages in preparation for binding. 

“I have had quite enough of writing,” she agrees. “This must be sufficient. Let us hope the Nords do not attempt to hide the truth of their Dragonborn.”

“They'll live,” Urag says with a shrug. “Don't want blood getting on my books after all.”


	69. Nature's Fury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hahnu is not feeling very charitable right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hahnuviing and Hjalti the Loud  
> Location: Whiterun Hold, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

The main difference between Caranya and Hjalti, in Hahnuviing’s opinion at least, is that the Arch-Mage only pretends to have the sense of a kitten. Hjalti, on the other hand, isn’t pretending, which explains why Hahnu is tagging along behind as the fool girl tromps over half of Skyrim looking for a mystical site which looks just like every other –

“Hjalti,” Hahnuviing asks calmly. “Exactly what do you do to upset Kynareth so badly?”

“It's Kyne, and I didn't do anything!” Hjalti whines.

“Giant ghost crab.”

“It’s a vision quest.”

Hahnuviing gives her a dubious look.

“ _Angry_ giant ghost crab.”


	70. Only Human (Argonian. Whatever)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vaermina obviously hasn't been paying enough attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hahnuviing and Erandur  
> Location: Nightcaller Temple, the Pale, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

Red light crackles and hisses around them as Mara’s priest begins his prayer over the Skull of Corruption. The ritual holds him in place, blind and deaf to all around him, utterly helpless, and with Vaermina’s voice in her ears it is so very easy for Hahnuviing to dream of a traitor’s death. She could kill him with one blow, or crack open his skull and condemn him to a life of visions. She could wield the Skull herself, and swamp Skyrim in nightmares.

She could… but the Dreamweaver cursed her long ago. It's only fair to return the favour.


	71. Accuracy (is not all you need)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Practice makes perfect, eventually. In the meantime, it just makes bigger holes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hahnuviing, Hjalti the Loud, and Lurog gro-Khazgur  
> Location: As far as possible from anywhere important, Whiterun Hold, Skyrim  
> Tags: n/a

The force of the Shout pushes all three of them against the back of their little shelter and sets Hahnuviing’s tympana ringing. When the dust settles, she can barely hear Hjalti cackling like a magpie.

“That, hah! That was glorious!”

She pushes herself to her feet and peers over the clearly inadequate wall. Their target is gone, as is much of the hillside, and she hisses as an undermined boulder topples, embedding itself in the soft ground below with a thud.

Lurog hauls himself up beside her and grimaces at the destruction.

“We really need to work on our precision.”


	72. Shades of Grey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with Daedric Princes leaves its mark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hahnuviing  
> Location: Solitude, Skyrim  
> Tags: claustrophobia

Leaving the Pelagius Wing is… odd. The mind of the dead emperor is dull and dreary, yes, but the halls of the Blue Palace are no brighter and the dingy streets of Solitude seem narrow and cramped. She hurries to the gate, ignoring friendly faces, ducking under the arch with a gasp.

The open road is even worse – grey trees leaning overhead, trapping her against the ground – and she races to the heights. She needs light, air, space above and around and _beneath_ her.

Meridia’s shrine gives her the opportunity and she leaps with relief.

Sense returns in midair – briefly.


	73. Picking Up The Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What goes up, must come down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog, and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Considering Nabi seldom swore, she had quite the tongue on her. Mog could almost see the air turning blue as she chased the other woman through the mushrooms towards the ridge. Nabi skidded and suddenly dropped to her knees, forcing Mog to swerve frantically.

“What the...? Oh.”

At the base of the slope lay a tall argonian, an Easterner by her tail. One leg was angled unnaturally, and there were muddy scrapes along both her sides.

“I'm hoping this isn't one of Himself’s discards,” Mog sighed, and crouched beside Nabi. “He might get a little peeved if we save her.”


	74. Health and Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waiting is the hardest part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog, and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

“Mog? Is it done?”

Mog ladled the potion into a bowl, and carried it over to the table. She looked curiously at the argonian’s still form.

“How d’you intend get her to drink it? Not like she's in a condition to help,” she asked.

Ilunabi kept her eyes on the splint she was binding along her patient’s leg. “I have heard of this before,” she said. “She will swallow if you are careful, simply do not expect her to react to anything.”

“Any idea how long it will last?”

“I suspect it will be until she forgives herself for falling.”


	75. Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you need to go back to the beginning to reach the desired end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Hahnuviing slips between the trees – the mushrooms – and pauses before entering the small clearing. The dunmer is dancing there, lost in the motion, and if the woman is anything like Falanu this could go on for days.

She steps forward, and all movement stops. This is also like Falanu, to freeze before a potential threat, and as with her friend it is painful to see the dancer so still.

“Perhaps introductions are in order,” she says quietly, and relief surges as the woman relaxes just a little. “I am called Hahnuviing, will the dunmer give me her name in return?”


	76. Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the smallest things that are the strangest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

High above her, the sunlight is pulling back like the tide, leaving multi-coloured stars gleaming through the pink-purple nebulae. Hahnuviing twists a little, trying to find a more comfortable position without actually resting on her back.

She wants to be home. She wants to be standing on the highest tower of the College, leaning out too far over the parapet. She wants to feel the chill wind sweeping away the clouds, with only starlight to dance over the icebergs out to sea, white spangles in a black sky. 

She wants to recognise the sky when she looks up at night.


	77. The True You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Always keep a backup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

The row of books share a common theme: plain cheap covers, grubby and worn, with a name etched into the spine.

“You may read them, if you like.”

Hahnuviing jerks back guiltily.

“They are journals, yes?” she asks.

“Almost two centuries worth,” the dunmer agrees, leaning against the bookcase. “I have kept one for as long as I can remember.”

“Why do you not put them away safe?”

“Then I would have to remember where I put them.” Ilunabi bends to run a finger along the shelf, pulling out a small red volume with damp-warped pages.

“Start with this one.”


	78. Eternity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The situation sinks in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog, and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Dementia, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Eventually, they found Hahnu curled up under a tree not far from the road, looking out across the lake. The Hill of Suicides was no more than a shadow in the fading light of dusk, gleaming shapes appearing and disappearing on its misty slopes.

“I do not wish this,” Hahnu whispered, her voice thin and breathy. “I wish to fly, not fall, not _this_ …”

Mog sighed and lowered herself onto the damp ground. A moment later, Nabi dropped down on Hahnu’s other side and took her hand, gripping it tightly.

“We will not let you go so easily,” she said.


	79. Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hahnu is not now, nor shall she ever be, a morning person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

The morning light slips across the ground, over Hahnu’s muzzle, and into her eyes. She grumbles and tries to pull the blanket over her head.

“That might be easier if you were not lying on the rest of it,” someone observes brightly. Ilunabi. Mogak would be laughing.

Hahnu twists around in a second attempt to hide from the sun, and gives up in disgust. The blanket is tangled with her legs and tail, and she is awake now, like it or not. Really, not. On the other hand, a bowl of tea has appeared under her nose. This could work.


	80. Everything For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ilunabi knows more than she remembers. This can come in handy sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Mog  
> Location: the Hill of Suicides, Dementia, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

As the Hill rose out of the mist, Mog stopped muttering a prayer to Arkay to ask plaintively, “Are we sure Himself won't get peeved about this? I know we need the practice, but still…”

Ilunabi decided not to mention that Mog’s prayer was far more likely to attract His attention; instead she moved toward the nearest ghost with – she hoped – the appropriate skull. Having Bone and Name made Unbinding simple, and when the suicide dissolved into mist Ilunabi paused a moment to thank whoever had taught her the ancestral rites. 

It meant one fate less for Hahnu to fear.


	81. Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ready,  
> Set,  
> ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Mog stretched her arms out and wriggled her fingers, grinning like a loon.

“The rules?”

“No Destruction magic, no recruiting help, slaughterfish only,” Ilunabi said. “Winner brings in the most fish by weight, by the time Pyke comes to check on us. Or whenever we agree we have enough for all of Hale, if our luck is good.”

Hahnuviing inspected the water thoughtfully, rubbing an itchy scale. “That sounds fair,” she said. “Are there no other restrictions?”

“Don’t get yourself killed?”

“Why…?” The argonian blinked in confusion.

“Slaughterfish.”

“Ah. Shall we begin?”

Ilunabi nodded firmly. “On three,” she said.

“Three!”


	82. Rivalry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... Go!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Mog jiggled the line hopefully, to no effect, and sank back on the jetty. A splash nearby drew a sour glance, as Nabi pulled another fish off her spear and tossed it in the basket.

“You know, I still think that’s cheating,” she sighed.

Nabi stepped out onto the surface of the lake again, grinning, but she yelped and leapt back as the water beneath her feet began to churn. Hahnu breached the surface with a gasp, and waded ashore lugging a slaughterfish nearly half her size, still squirming.

They looked at each other, and fell over laughing.

“You win!”


	83. Gateway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things just aren't worth the risk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

“Absolutely not.”

Ilunabi glares at the thick volume on the table. Hahnuviing rubs her muzzle wearily, and glances out the window to gauge the time. She'd rather not do this after dark, given the choice.

“Ilunabi, it is merely a book.”

“A book with tentacles!”

“If you wish to visit Apocrypha, this is the safest way I know.”

“I do not care. No tentacles.”

Hahnuviing hisses under her breath, and turns to the corner where Mog is smothering giggles.

“If the cackling nitwit cares to help?”

“Um, it doesn't sound any worse than an angry netch?”

“ _That_ is not ‘helping’.”


	84. Lost and Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amazingly powerful aftifacts are often not worth the amazingly nasty side-effects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Ilunabi put her head around the corner. “I come bearing food,” she said. “Are you hungry?”

Hahnuviing beckoned her over, glaring at the crystalline dagger on the anvil. “I have need of a break,” she sighed. Ilunabi handed her the bowl and eyed the blade thoughtfully.

“That… looks vaguely familiar.”

“It is Keening, I am told,” Hahnuviing explained around a mouthful of chowder. “I am unsure if it is broken or false, but it acts not as it should.”

Ilunabi dabbed at the dagger with her fingers before picking it up. “Broken, certainly, but I like it better this way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> C.f. Chapter 23 Forgotten


	85. Irregular Orbit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hahnu tries to share her hobby. Mog doesn't quite appreciate this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

“Hahnu, are you _sure_?”

“No.”

“Hahnu!”

“The return of the Serpent’s Eye is not predictable, any more than Ilunabi’s reaction to one of your experiments.”

“So, why’d you drag me out here then!”

“Ilunabi would not be still enough to see.”

“Try again.”

“The Eye pushes the aether of the Void before it, causing ripples in the heavens that mislead the unwary navigator and warn the adept.

“You're gonna be losing scales if you don't start making sense soon.”

“The comet will appear above the constellation of the Warrior, within the hour.”

“Hahnu, sweetheart, dearest, this’d better be worth it.”


	86. Possession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... is nine-tenths of the law. Hahnu's not getting that halberd back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

“Hahnuviing, what did you do to my spear?”

Hahnu sighed and waved a hand at the corner of the forge. “I do nothing to your spear, save fix it. You are testing this first.”

She shoved the polearm into Ilunabi's hands, and began urging her towards the old practice dummy. Ilunabi ran her hands thoughtfully over the wooden pole, finding the balance point between the sweeping asymmetric head and the spiked base.

It spun easily as she moved, licking out and back to slice canvas and leather, flexing just enough as she rammed it into the sand-filled belly.

“Well?”

“ _Mine_.”


	87. Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This did really happen, honest!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Mog could just hear Nabi and Hahnu talking together over the crackle of the fire as she stirred the soup gently. She sorted through the spice box, deciding on dried hydnum instead gnarl bark, and tilted her head as Hahnu shrieked in disbelief.

“What’ve you done now,” she called over her shoulder, and Nabi laughed.

“Last sign of the K’sharra prophecy?” Nabi shouted back.

Mog grinned and sprinkled the hydnum over the soup.

“Sign of Fear,” she said. “Rain of burning dogs.”

“Rain, as in falling out of the sky?” Hahnu asked.

“Yup,” Mog replied. “Barking all the way down.”


	88. Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ilunabi doesn't like being a weather gauge, it hurts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

She peers across the darkened room, wondering what woke her up. The faint scuff of bare feet comes again, just as there is movement in the darkness. Hahnuviing grumbles to herself and yawns, hauling herself out of bed.

“Storm tomorrow?” she asks quietly, padding over to stir up the fire and dig out Mog’s latest attempt at a salve from the cluttered shelves. Ilunabi halts in her pacing and sighs, joining her by the hearth.

“It will be a bad one,” she replies, and holds out her hands so Hahnu can attempt to rub the pain out of absent fingers.


	89. Arrowshot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mog is as sane as the next person. In the Isles, that isn't saying much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Dementia, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: blood, arrows where they shouldn't be

Ilunabi snarled as Mog managed to push her aside again, weak as she was from blood loss, and tried to stumble away. 

“Hahnuviing! A little help here, please?”

“M’fine,” Mog mumbled, looking around for her mace. “Can't die. Died. Dead. A’ready. No’ a prob – oh.”

Hahnu helped Ilunabi ease the tall woman to the ground as the enchantment took hold, and snorted.

“Is this still an issue?” she asked. “I should think she feels the wounds.”

“It varies,” Ilunabi sighed. “And her resistance to pain is terrifying. Now pass me the pliers so I can get that blighted arrow out.”


	90. 33%

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do you know where your pack is?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

“ _This_ ,” Ilunabi snarled. “This is why I _despise_ mudcrabs.”

“Never mind,” Mog sighed. She gave a mournful look at the torn pack in Hahnuviing’s hand. “Did anything survive?”

Hahnu pulled out a ragged piece of jerky and eyed it doubtfully, before tossing it aside and delving back into the pack.

“No luck, I fear, although…” Her face brightened, and she held up a pastry. Ilunabi smiled for a moment.

“The sweetrolls?”

Hahnu shook her head. “One sweetroll, no more.”

They stared at the lone pastry. Eventually, Mog gave in.

“Find me a clean knife, and I'll cut it into thirds.”


	91. Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Different times, different places, different words, one meaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Morrowind, Cyrodiil, Skyrim, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

_Agápe_ – He was not a likeable man but when he gave her a piece of her past, just because he could, she loved him anyway.

 _Storge_ – She had met her big brother no more than a score of times all up, but he was family so she charged in after him.

 _Éros_ – The physical differences alone make it impossible, she knows that, but Odahviing in flight is still the most beautiful thing she has ever seen.

 _Philia_ – “Love may be giving someone your last sweetroll,” Mog announced, brandishing the knife carefully, “but friendship is when you’re willing to share it.”


	92. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mog never likes what she sees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: New Sheoth, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Mog stared anxiously at the tarnished mirror. The dress suited her well enough, clinging tightly to shoulders and waist, falling from elbow and hip in waves of foamy lace, and yet...

“It's a bit dark,” she sighed, tugging uneasily at the neckline. Hahnu prodded her hands away, muttering, and leaned over precariously to tack new fabric into place.

Nabi looked up from the fragile diadem entangling her fingers. “You are an alchemist, Mog. Dye it, if you must.”

Mog sighed again, and lifted her chin so that Hahnu could draw the lace in around her neck to hide the seam.


	93. Colours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alchemy in the Isles can be... unpredictable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Mog  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

The little pot simmered quietly over the bright flame, the thin purple tendrils inside whirling away like tiny spindles and staining clear water an astonishing pink. Mog moved the pot off the heat and wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist, sighing. The next pot held rich blue chunks of mushroom, inexorably seeping bright orange fluid.

“Oh, for pity’s sake,” she muttered.

The last pot on the table had started off as grey-green slime, but the roiling bubbles were streaked with royal blue. A cloud of yellow vapour wafted up as she leaned in for a closer look.


	94. Excuses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some people need to learn to duck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Broken glass littered the old table, and a foul-smelling mist wafted from the fluid trickling across the surface and over the edge. The greasy blue droplets hissed as they hit the sand. The tough cutty-grass between the table and the wall of their hut was wilting, and the wall itself was stained purple.

Faint curses could be heard from down by the water, where Hahnu was trying to scrub the gunk off her scales. Ilunabi lifted one eyebrow and waited.

Mog blushed. “Um, did you know that boiling Letifer slime smells a lot like xivilai breath? I… wasn't expecting that.”


	95. Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, they don't play knucklebones in Black Marsh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Mog tosses the bones up, catching them carefully on the back of her hand. Another quick motion and they scatter across the ground at her knee. She leans forward and chooses one to fling up again, scooping up the others neatly and twisting her hand to catch the flier with a click.

“One-‘n’-All-Sounds,” she says, and passes the bones to Ilunabi. Hahnuviing sidles closer as Ilunabi mimics the process, scattering the bones and tossing one up.

“What game is this?” Hahnu asks once the bones are together again. Mog looks up and smiles.

“Knucklebones Bruma,” she says. “You wanna play?”


	96. Everyday Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a reason Mog does most of the cooking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Hale, Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

Ilunabi sipped carefully from the half-full ladle, and wrinkled her nose.

“Are you sure…?”

“Just give it time, Nabi. It’ll take a while, and I haven't added the hydnum yet, so just keep stirring.” 

Mog waved reassuringly and bent over the bucket of mushrooms again, gently peeling the skin off of each one, slicing it neatly, and tossing it into a frypan sizzling with butter. Across the table, Hahnu was cutting open long orange stalks and scraping the pith into a pastry casing. Ilunabi sighed and swept the ladle around the pot again.

“I still think it needs more salt.”


	97. Inspiration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many forget that Sheogorath is Lord of the Creative as well as the Deranged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: Mania, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

It is a warm summer night and there is a bonfire on the shore near Hale, burning low. Hahnuviing sits on a old campstool nearby, curled around something that was a lute before she remade it, her fingers plucking lightly at the strings. 

Mog leans against her knee, singing with head tipped back and eyes half-closed, her voice drifting up to join the gleaming clouds, and in the space between water and fire Ilunabi is dancing. She moves like a shadow in the firelight, turning and swaying, and her feet set the pattern of the music into the damp sand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The music in my head for this is _Bansull_ by Kelpie (Kerstin Blodig and Ian Melrose). No idea what the lyrics mean, but it sounds right.


	98. Nowhere and Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even reality can succumb to force of habit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi and Mog  
> Location: Dementia, the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

The rough shape in the air appeared almost regular, although it was surprisingly difficult to find the edge between where the background was and where it abruptly wasn't. Mog circled the not-thing at a respectful distance, watching as the trees behind it slid in and out of chaos.

“Yeah, I'm stumped,” she said. “Any ideas?”

“Order did have a foothold here during the last Greymarch,” Nabi suggested, scowling in thought. “Perhaps the Isles are leaving space for the next one?”

Mog looked at her oddly.

“The way I heard it, there wasn't supposed to _be_ another one. What's going on?”


	99. Endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "One crucial myth calls him the 'Sithis-shaped hole' of the world."  
> \-- _Varieties on Faith in Tamriel_ by Brother Mikhael Karkuxor of the Imperial College, regarding the Mad God Sheogorath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: what used to be the Shivering Isles  
> Tags: n/a

They stood together at the edge of the crowd, looking out over the chaotic nothingness that had flooded over the Isles.

“Y’know,” Mog mused. “Whenever I've thought about how I might end up destroyed, obliterated, or otherwise wiped from existence, drowning in Sithis never actually made the list.”

“I do not think it occurs to anyone, save perhaps those of the Dark Brotherhood,” Hahnuviing replied. Ilunabi shifted uneasily under Hahnu’s arm.

“It looks to still be rising,” she pointed out. “We need to move up again, if we can.”

Mog sighed. “Slight problem there, Nabi. We’re running out of mountain.”


	100. Innocence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character(s): Ilunabi, Mog and Hahnuviing  
> Location: the Isles  
> Tags: n/a

“Huh.”

Hahnu and Ilunabi look up from their unfinished map.

“Huh?” Hahnu echoes. Mog is crouching in the marshy ground not far away, inspecting something tucked away in the reeds.

“Spoons,” she says. “Take a look.”

Mog has a knack for finding oddities, so they roll the parchment up carefully and wander over to see what she has found this time. A multitude of silver spoons are planted firmly into the heavy mud, scattered as far as the eye can see. Some are tarnished or bent, but others are still cleanly polished.

“Here,” Mog says, grinning. “Look at the reflection.”

**Author's Note:**

> Questions, complaints, and constructive criticisms are all very much appreciated.


End file.
